 | Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex Subjects: Hermaphroditism -- Treatment -- France -- History -- 19th century; Hermaphroditism -- Treatment -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Hermaphroditism -- Treatment -- France -- History -- 20th century; Hermaphroditism -- Treatment -- Great Britain -; Punctuated with remarkable case studies, this book explores extraordinary encounters between hermaphrodites--people born with "ambiguous" sexual anatomy--and the medical and scientific professionals who grappled with them. Alice Dreger focuses on events in France and Britain in the late nineteenth century, a moment of great tension for questions of sex roles. While feminists, homosexuals, and anthropological explorers openly questioned the natures and purposes of the two sexes, anatomical hermaphrodites suggested a deeper question: just how many human sexes are there? Ultimately hermaphrodites led doctors and scientists to another surprisingly difficult question: what is sex, really? |
